Flowers of Primula latiloba
Today’s species, formerly known as Dodecatheon dentatum, is found in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and Idaho. The epithet dentatum was in reference to the toothed leaves, a feature I unfortunately didn’t photograph this year.
The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia and other references list this taxon as locally infrequent in south-central British Columbia. Few specimens have seemingly been collected in the province. It seems I was very fortunate to randomly stumble upon it growing alongside a vernal stream near Princeton, British Columbia, as I had no prior notion that it occurred in that vicinity. The official story is that a yellow violet caught my eye, so I stopped to look at that and then chanced upon the shootingstar. Unofficially, the bumps and rolls of gravel logging roads increase my need for roadside “rest stops”.
Two separate sizable populations were located within what I believe to be the same drainage; one population was growing in full shade at slightly lower elevation and flowered earlier, the other population was growing in full sun exposure in a five- to ten-year old clearcut at higher elevation, and was a week or more behind. One common feature between the two sites was groundwater seeping past the roots. Brent Hine (curator of UBC’s alpine garden at the time of writing) subsequently collected a few individuals on behalf of the BC Rainforest Garden here at UBC.
For additional photographs with a sense of scale, I recommend the image collection at the Burke Museum: Dodecatheon dentatum subsp. dentatum.
Oh Daniel, it’s so great to have you back again … suddenly I felt at home upon seeing your name!! You were missed, a hearty welcome to you!
Hey Daniel!
Great to see you back here! What a cool plant and photo!
Do still get in touch if you’re in this part of the world. I can definitely offer you a sofa-bed in the space below me, unless it’s really cold.
Just spent a few hours in Smith Pond fen, (I’m lookin’ at it out my window), with Eric Sorenson, an ecologist friend who co-wrote “Wetland, Woodland, Wildland: a guide to the natural communities of Vermont” with Liz Thompson. It’s a very diverse medium to rich fen. Eric IDed bulb-bearing water hemlock for me, which I’d just noticed the week before. Now I see it everywhere along the edges of the open water. Incredibly dissected leaf, a very slight plant, and deadly, deadly poisonous!
Best! George ~
Great choice of a plant, Daniel. It is great to see you back — we have missed you.
Dodecatheon dentatum – Z5 – RHS Index of Garden Plants, Griffiths
Dodecatheon dentatum – Z5-7 – A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, Brickell, Cole, Zuk
Dodecatheon, do-dek-ath-e-on; ancient name signifying “Flower of the Twelve Gods”; from Gr. dodeka, twelve, and theos, god. Plant Names Simplified, Johnson and Smith
Welcome back, Daniel. Stephen, et al. did a good job in your absence, but already I noticed that you include more links in your entries to other sources of information that they did. One link that I would have liked to have was an explanation of the etymology of the genus, but a little bit of searching found this page
although I’m not sure what the gods of Olympus have to with this plant.
Daniel!
It’s great to have you back! This is a beautiful specimen – GREAT photograph!
What a gorgeous picture!!
The temple bell stops
but i still hear the sound
comeing out of the flower
Basho 1680
fine picture daniel
Very fine photograph choice, Daniel – as a newbie here I am looking forward very much to your choices.
Beautiful, subtle, poetic.
Also liked the Burke Museum page, thanks!
What a wonderful find! Great to see you back Daniel!
Good to have you back, Daniel, and thank you for this delicate and ghostly image.